Articles Search

Significant steps are being taken towards developing a long-term strategy to reduce disaster risk in the country. That is according to a UN statement. A global disaster risk study carried out by the United Nations University ranked PNG as the 10th most disaster-prone country in the world. PNG is exposed to hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, coastal inundation, inland flooding, landslides, cyclones, drought, frost and outbreak of diseases.

Tonga’s public debt at the end of the current 2017 fiscal year is estimated to be equivalent to half of our Gross Domestic Product GDP (about TOP$444.7m), according to an updated version of the Asian Development Outlook ADO 2017, published by the Asian Development Bank at the end of September. Government operating expenditures during the FY2017 Fiscal Year are expected to be at a low of 0.4% of our GDP.

Three students from the Micronesia region recently returned from the arctic where they participated in an innovative program known as the Coral and Ice Exchange. Chloe Arnold of Chuuk, Karen Ehmes of Pohnpei, and Dylan Tellei of Palau applied for the program and were selected to attend after the application and interviews. The program was envisioned and developed by the Canadian organization, the “Students on Ice Foundation” and the Micronesian organization, Island Research and Education Initiative (iREi).

Negotiations are underway about the sale of one of Samoa’s most iconic hotels, Sheraton Samoa Aggie Grey’s Hotel and Bungalows on Beach Rd, to a foreign investment group. The Samoa Observer understands the Grey Family has been in negotiations with a New Zealand-based Asian investment group to purchase the hotel.

The Australian Government has announced its plan to help replace police patrol boats “Auki” and “Lata.” Australian High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, Roderick Brazier said the replacement boats will have improved capabilities and technology. Mr Brazier said this will be a joint effort of the Australian Government and the Solomon Islands Government and will allow the Maritime unit of the police force to carry out its duties more effectively.

The Government has reminded villagers blocking the Highlands Highway at Kainantu in Eastern Highlands that their action is illegal and police will arrest them. Works Secretary David Wereh told The National yesterday that the people needed to understand that national roads belonged to the public and not to any clan or tribe even though the roads ran through their traditional land.

The leader of the opposition SODELPA party in Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka, has called on the relatives of people convicted of sedition to stay calm and maintain respect for the rule of law. Last week, 14 chiefs and elders in Ra were jailed for conspiring to form a breakaway Christian state. They have been jailed for up to three years but their lawyer said they maintained their innocence and he said he would launch an appeal.

New Caledonia has entered a second month without a properly constituted government. An attempt to convene a meeting this week to elect a new president won't be made in part because of the caretaker president and only candidate for the position Philippe Germain is in New York. Mr Germain has joined other anti-independence politicians to attend the UN decolonisation committee meeting.

The Cook Islands minister of finance Mark Brown says dual citizenship could be the solution to his government's desire to join the United Nations. All Cook Islanders are entitled to hold New Zealand passports under the special constitutional relationship between the two countries.

The Australian government will be offering money to refugees in Manus who agree to return to their home countries as it rushes to shut down the detention centre. While most of the refugees have refused to stay in PNG, Australia has promised to give each refugee $25,000 [US$19,600] if they agree to return to their country of origin. Last year, Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court resounded global protests when it ruled the detention centre breached human rights and ordered its closure.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.